The present invention generally relates to facsimile apparatuses and more particularly to a facsimile adapter unit for use in a personal computer or a workstation for providing thereto a communication function of the group-4 facsimile apparatus.
As a telematique service terminal used in the integrated service digital network (ISDN), there are used apparatuses such as a group-4 facsimile apparatus for transmitting and receiving image information, a teletex apparatus for transmitting and receiving character information, and a mixed mode apparatus for transmitting and receiving document information wherein image information and character information are mixed.
In the case of the mixed mode apparatus, the apparatus is usually designed as a dedicated apparatus which explicitly performs the function of image transmission and reception of the class-3 terminal of a group-4 facsimile apparatus. However, such a dedicated apparatus has a problem in that the cost of the apparatus is high and a considerable space is occupied by the apparatus.
Under such circumstances, attempts have been made to use inexpensive personal computers or workstations as the mixed mode terminal apparatus for transmission and reception of documents by using with a facsimile adapter unit. Such a facsimile adapter unit provides the function of the group-4 facsimile apparatus wherein the document information made by the personal computer or facsimile apparatus acting as a host apparatus is stored once in the memory and sent to a destination terminal after establishing a connection. According to this approach, the mixed mode function is inexpensively added to the common personal computers and workstations and such an apparatus does not occupy a devoted space.
However, in such a conventional system, the document information created in the host apparatus is sent to the destination terminal in a form as it is, either in the teletex mode, the mixed mode or the facsimile mode, and associated therewith there occurs a problem in that the transmission of the document information may become impossible when the document information type does not agree with the document information type which can be received by the destination terminal.